In the spirit of Cinema Retro's quest to help make audiences aware of worthwhile independent films, columnist David Savage reports on the new short Sahaja Springs.
If
precious few directors have exploited the inherent comedy of the ashram -- a
retreat for meditation, yoga and enlightenment -- it may be because, like the
fashion biz and network television, for example -- these realms do an awfully
good job of satirizing themselves.
One
director willing to take a stab at sending up the yoga lifestyle is emerging
indie director Rebecca Conroy, a recent graduate of Columbia
University's graduate film program. Her hilarious short, Sahaja Springs,
recently screened at the IFC Center in Manhattan, and has both tickled and
angered audiences, depending on whom you ask. (Men seem to be amused; women,
not so much, according to Conroy.)
The
film's multi-thread narrative follows a group of ashram residents as they
struggle to find inner peace promised by an Upstate New York ashram run by a
faux-Indian, fraudulent yogi. That the character is played by a real-life
Indian yogi, 92 year-old Kumar Pallana -- the Indian character actor with a
recurring role in many of Wes Anderson's films such as Rushmore, The
Royal Tenenbaums, and The Darjeeling Limited -- is a good example of
the film’s layered comedy.
Meanwhile,
a male ashram resident – a hunky, magnetic loner who speaks in mystical yet
baffling headscratchers – seems to be driving all the females crazy with
frustrated lust and confusion.
It’s
a smart, deadpan jewel from a young director who knows whence she speaks:
Conroy drew upon her own experiences as a yoga follower, ashram-crasher and
daughter of a hippie mother.
I
sat down recently for coffee with Conroy and discussed the idea behind her yoga
satire and “The Great Kumarâ€â€™s surprising theatrical history.